A high school lacrosse player has been left traumatised after a gang of older boys abducted him at gunpoint as part of an initiation prank that ‘went way beyond hazing’, prosecutors said.
All 11 student-athletes involved in the stunt linked to the team at Westhill High School in suburban Syracuse have turned themselves in to face charges.
District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said they were part of a ‘ruse’ in which younger players were invited to watch a match and then go to McDonald’s for something to eat.
But one of the drivers pretended to get lost and stopped in a remote area where the others were waiting for them.
Mr Fitzpatrick said they were armed with at least one knife and what appeared to be a gun.
He said at least five of the younger players had been set up as part of the prank but most managed to flee.
The one who didn’t get away ended up being blindfolded, thrown into the trunk of a car and told he would be abandoned, he added.
‘I cannot adequately express to this community the level of stupidity and lack of judgment involved in this case,’ Mr Fitzpatrick said.
‘This goes way, way beyond hazing.’
While the student wasn’t hurt physically, ‘emotionally, that’s going to be long term’, Mr Fitzpatrick said.
‘This is not lighting a bag on fire on Halloween and sticking it in your driveway, this is criminal activity,’ he added.
The DA said one of the pranksters could have been shot by police if officers had stumbled across the scene and saw ‘a kid with a hood over his head being abducted at gunpoint’.
The events were captured on video, and Mr Fitzpatrick said local sheriffs have identified the 11 people — some of 18 years old — whom they believe participated either directly or indirectly.
He had given the students until Thursday to come forward voluntarily and face only misdemeanor charges of unlawful imprisonment.
Asked if all were members of the boys’ lacrosse team, he said it ‘appears that way, but I don’t know that’.
The prosecutor warned Tuesday that those who did not would be charged with more serious felony kidnapping.
He noted reports that the district’s superintendent had cancelled the rest of the varsity team’s season.
Messages seeking comment were left for Westhill School District Superintendent Steve Dunham.
In a statement provided to Syracuse.com earlier this week, he said: ‘Our top priority is always the physical safety, mental health and well-being of our students’ and that ‘any behaviour that negatively affects any of these aspects for other students will be addressed promptly and appropriately according to our Code of Conduct’.
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